| I read the Wikipedia entry for it but it didn't really shed a lot of light on these types of questions: 1. Can I embed images and more specifically can I embed animated GIF files? 2. Can I embed MP3s and play them within the note? 3. Does it support rich text editor functionality including the ability to insert tables easily from programs like Microsoft excel? 4. Can I use multiple fonts in the same individual note including monospaced ones and broad support for Unicode? 5. Can I easily sync and edit the data on my iPad, then on my android phone without having to worry about where the data is stored? 6. Will it automatically OCR embedded images and allow me to do text searches across my entire set of notes based on that text? If the answer to most of these questions is no, then it doesn't sound like org-note is the best note taking editor as you claim, it just sounds like it's the best editor for your specific set of criteria which does not apply to all notetakers. And that's the problem with trying to narrow down the best note editing tool, it's such a broad area that every notetaker will have their own idiosyncratic needs and priorities. As for me, I have also experimented with a great deal of note editing utilities and the only one that has reasonably met most of my requirements is Evernote. EDIT: of course if the answer is yes, then I may just have a new favorite note editor. |
2. Same as above, except playback will require a plugin.
3. Absolutely! Tables are fully supported, with automatic formatting and formulae and lots more. This is one of the strong areas of org-mode.
4. You can get bold, italic, monospaced varieties inline, with minimal markdown-like syntax. If you are asking for rich text mixing two different fonts, then no.
5. Yes! Since everything is stored in text files, you can syc them via any means you deem fit. I personally have multiple Syncthing nodes (desktop, laptop and phones) and it works flawlessly.
>it's the best editor for your specific set of criteria
You are right. Perhaps better description would be org-mode is the worst note-taking tool, except all others.
Why I would deem it best is because after decade of experimenting, I've cone to realise that plaintext is the king. Rich editors with inline images, media and fancy fonts are nice and necessary when you're preparing presentations or impressing someone, but when time comes to actual utility when talking about years upon years of notes and other documents, everything else falls short very quickly.
Images and videos cannot be grepped, searching through formatted documents like Word where search program has rk ignore all the formatting is inherently slow and ultimately inaccurate. Compressing and encrypting and sharing plaintext is a breeze. Plaintext can be read thoroughly or skimmed through as needed. While writing plaintext, I don't have to worry about messing up formatting of whole document by entering right character at wrong place and then fiddling about it for hours.
Rich text is nice for when your notes are small. They are nice to feel. But when you are rummaging about a mountain (which everyone eventually builds up if they document anything seriously), nothing matches sheer speed and utility of plaintext.
Which leaves either dumb text or markdown. Markdown is nice, but org-mode is markdown in steroids. Even the simple act of being able to collapse sections with single key is a huge huge QoL improvement. Then there or org-babel for inline programming like Jupyter, org-roam for back links, org-ref for bibliography, pdf-tools with org roam for inline PDF annotation, and you can still grep everything mentioned here.
Ultimately the purpose of notes (for me, goes without saying) is to preserve and eventually refer to, information. And plaintext, in my personal anecdotal opinion and experience, beats every other medium for storing, transferring, modifying and analyzing information.